


Everything, Everything, Anything, Nothing

by PinkAfroPuffs



Series: Fate/Slutty Meme Magus [5]
Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Alcohol, Beach time, F/M, Hair Braiding, Mutual Pining, mentions of campfires and warm summer nights, moron x moron, thotty author dad away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 12:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20227759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkAfroPuffs/pseuds/PinkAfroPuffs
Summary: Is it too much to want something just out of reach? Too much to dream? Too impossible to consider that maybe, just maybe, a happy ending could be possible?Well, for now they have the beach. A dream that's like a far off memory, too nice to be real. But the barrier between the waking world and the world of dreams is much less daunting than one might think.Whatever. Pass the margaritas.





	Everything, Everything, Anything, Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> based in some part off of [this](https://twitter.com/ningiou/status/1157652109963251712) , though it's part 2 to [Heatwave.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20212849)

“Merlin, why are you wearing so many clothes at the beach?”

At this point in the day, Ifumi was on drink something-or-other, a piña colada sans the cherry (she hated candied cherries), and had decided that after several hours had passed, it was time to either wake Merlin and interrogate him about what he’d done, or at least make fun of him. Being tipsy meant the latter, so she continued, “It’s like...you put on _ more _ clothes instead of less. I don’t get it. Aren’t you hot?”

He peeked at her from underneath the book on his face, clearly a little groggy from his nap. “Hm? What?”

“I mean, you look like...I don’t know? Someone’s thotty author dad?” She found herself saying aloud. “You even have a book. But it’s hot. It makes me feel underdressed. Where are you going? What convention are you missing out on?” 

He stares at her for a minute, eyes twinkling as he sits up and takes the book off of his person. “First of all, I heavily ascribe to slut. It’s more dignified,” he began. “...and if you must know, I look thinner with my clothes on.”

She sipped her drink some more. “What? What does that mean? Do you have a beer gut? I mean, I won’t like you any less-” Maybe she shouldn’t have said that. No alcohol on earth would make her admit she liked him too early. 

They stared at one another for a whole minute. Her eyebrows rose then, in hopes he'd be the one to blink first. He did. “What?" She continued. "You’re older, right? Even if you’re eternally youthful, I know you can gain weight.” Didn’t everyone? Such things were normal parts of life.

“I just said-” He sighs a little and turns his head away from her.

“Take it off!” She shouted. “Take it off! I wanna see.” Purely jest! Maybe she should stop drinking. It was getting to her head. “...mmm. Wait I take it back, I’m just-”

“Goodness, if you insist, I’ll show you!” In a flourish that she almost can’t process, he pulled off his shirt to show her. 

The shock shot her drink up through her nose, and the burning almost made her black out; she poked the top of her mouth with the straw by accident, and spilled the rest of it when she started coughing.

“Whoops-” She couldn’t see what he was doing on account of trying to stay _ alive _and he had his shirt back on when a towel came into view, but she was already on the ground, howling and swearing. Actually, she’d never sworn that much before. 

When she finally stopped dry heaving, she looked up at him. His hair was still slightly tousled from his foolishness, and his cheeks lightly tinged pink. Was he flustered? 

She covered her face and tried not think about what she saw. Stupid hot Merlin making her feel like a fool. “Water. Please get me some water.” Tempting fate seemed to only make her thirsty, anyway.

* * *

“So, really, when were you going to tell me we were stranded here?”

After a bit of time to get entirely sober again, Ifumi paced the beach in the dark while the other Servants began building a campfire. This was her job, after all, as it had been her “wish” to come- and everyone here was in her charge. Sort of. 

“Hm~? Oh, that,” Merlin laughed a little dismissively. “Don’t worry, Master. I can get us back. Probably.”

She crossed her arms at him.

“D-Definitely?” He stuttered, sweat beading his brow. “Isn’t it fun, though? To lie in the sand, drink cool drinks, stare at beautiful people-”

Does she _ want _ him to look at her? She pushes the thought to the back of her mind. “It’s fun when you can just go home, Merlin!” She pushes back the fluff of her hair in frustration, then sighs. “...how did you get us here, anyway? You were gone for three whole days-” 

...hm.

“...and went to sleep directly afterward- did you stay up for three days to do this?” She found herself sitting beside him in the sand, then, her hands folded in her lap. “Merlin…”

His mouth opens and then closes. Once he seemed a bit more serene about his answer, he responded, “Maybe? It was a fun task! I have a knack for losing track of time when I’m having fun.”

She shouldn’t feel so worried about him. It was hard to remind herself that there were many aspects about him that were simply timeless and not subject to human rules. Still, he _ had _ obviously been exhausted by the endeavor- it wasn’t far fetched to think that he was overexerting himself for “fun”- or maybe because he simply had no real self control. “...you said sleep can be fun, right? Why don’t you-” Oh, she sounded so stupid. Why was she saying these things? “Do more of that at healthy intervals instead?”

He seemed rather interested in what she was saying to him- or maybe he was just amused, as was his way with these kinds of matters. “Hoh? Are you worried about me, Master?” His eyes sparkle even in the dark, his playful lilt annoying her as he teases. 

No. Admitting it would be- “Yeah,” she huffed at him. “I am.”

Surprise. There’s surprise there, so transparent and thinly veiled that he can’t seem to hide it fast enough for her not to notice. “...you don’t need to worry about _ me _, Master.” His voice sounds so soft that she knows what is coming; he speaks this way often, to remind her, to scold her about getting too close, and she knows, but she doesn’t care. “I’m not-”

“Human, I know,” she finished. “You don’t have to be human to deserve a little TLC from time to time.”

“Isn’t that a group?” He asked, tilting his head before he rubbed his chin. “I feel like I’ve read about it somewhere-”

“Of- No! I mean, yes! It is a group- rest in peace, Left Eye- but it also means ‘tender love and care’. How do you not…” She looked up at him, a little mystified about it. “How do you not know that?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know everything. Not yet.”

The phrase makes her laugh. “‘Not yet’. Isn’t it better not to know everything?”

She wished he wouldn’t look at her like that. Like there were so many things for him to say, but he was choosing to say none of them. “Maybe, maybe,” he decided. “But isn’t it fun to try things that are impossible?”

“Impossible, hm?” She was beginning to wonder what that entailed. This entire adventure bordered on the impossible: meeting historical figures, learning basic magecraft, meeting-

She wants to tangle her hands in his hair. It’s a strange sort of urge, and she knows not to do so without asking- she’d been through too many situations in which the same was not afforded to her- so she decides to say, “I know it’s getting really dark, but aren’t you still hot? I can braid your hair for you. It’s been messed up since earlier.”

They both know that the natural state of his hair is a kind of disorderly order in itself; still, he smiles a bit and crosses his arms over his chest. “That _ would _ make it easier to shake sand out of, hm?”

It’s silly. Sitting by the fire and listening to Nitocris tell stories with a sheet on her head as Ifumi braids Merlin’s hair shouldn’t be as calming or invigorating as it is, but she finds herself calm in it. If this is being stranded, maybe-

Her fingers thread past his slightly-pointed ear, and he leans back against her from his seat below her as she hums to herself. He still smelled like summer nights, but so did everyone else. Maybe it was best not to be scared of it anymore. 

“...thank you.” She murmured into his ear. 

He barely reacted past tilting his head and glancing back at her, waiting for something else. 

“...for letting me braid your hair,” she finishes with a smile, and he hums happily. She wonders if he knows what she really means, or if she should tell him. 

Later. There was always later.


End file.
